Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.

Disney's earliest Mickey and Minnie Mouse enter public domain as US copyright expires

Summary: A short animated film released in 1928 that features non-speaking versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse has entered the public domain, which means anyone can now use their copyright-less image however they choose, ending a long period in which all variations of these characters were assiduously protected by Disney lawyers.

Context: US copyright law gives the creators of characters like Mickey Mouse 95 years of protection before they’re no longer exclusive and can be repurposed, remixed, and appropriated by anyone for any use or reason; earlier US copyright law only protected such works for 55 years, but Congress recently upped that by 20 years and then by another 20 years, keeping Mickey Mouse from entering the public domain first in 1984, then in 2004—efforts that were lobbied for by Disney and which have caused the relevant law to be nicknamed “the Mickey Mouse Protection Act” in some corners of the legal profession; a new swathe of works lose their copyright every year, and 2024 also brings Winnie the Pooh’s friend Tigger, a silent film called The Circus starring Charlie Chaplin, and DH Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover into the public domain.

—BBC News

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Powerful earthquake slams Japan, residents flee some coastal areas

Summary: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 destroyed dozens of buildings and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes in central Japan; the government issued a major tsunami warning for coastal residents, the first since early 2011, but that warning was later downgraded.

Context: Residents in and around afflicted areas have been warned to prepare for more quakes and potential tsunamis, readying themselves for a quick evacuation if necessary, and transportation has been disrupted by the closing of train lines, highways, and at least one airport due to damage or concerns about potential damage to their infrastructure; Russia and North Korea also issued tsunami warnings following the quake, but those warnings have also now been downgraded.

—Reuters

Argentina formally announces it won’t join the BRICS alliance in Milei’s latest policy shift

Summary: The Argentine government has formally announced that it won’t be joining the BRICS bloc of developing countries, marking a promise kept by recently elected Argentine President Milei.

Context: The BRICS bloc—an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—is in the process of opening up to more countries as part of a larger ambition to challenge the geopolitical and economic dominance of the world’s currently wealthiest nations, and Argentina was one of the six initial invitees; Argentina is in the midst of a staggering economic crisis, which is part of why Milei, who says he wants to blow the whole thing up and rebuild it from scratch, basically, was elected, but his opposition to joining the group is seemingly more ideological than practical, as he says he wants to align Argentina with countries like the US and Israel, not countries like China.

—The Associated Press

The number of unhoused people in the United States has reached a new post-2007 high (which is when the Department of Housing and Urban Development started tracking homelessness in the country); 653,104 Americans were tallied as experiencing homelessness in 2023, which is up by about 12% from 2022—that increase ostensibly the result of a reduction in social safety net programs following the truncation of pandemic-era programs and sharp rent increases.

—Chartr

>112,000

Number of deaths attributed to overdoses of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in the United States in 2023—a new, grim milestone.

Many such deaths result from opioid addictions sparked by injuries or the escalatory use of less powerful drugs like heroin, while others are accidentally exposed when it’s erroneously sold to them as some other type of black-market drug, like ADHD or depression medication.

—NPR News

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